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Friday, June 5, 2009

Interview with Joe on Access Atlanta

The girls don’t hide in Joey McIntyre’s hotel bathroom anymore. For one thing, fans of New Kids on the Block are no longer girls but largely women in their 20s and 30s. These days, McIntyre said, it’s more like a fan messaging him on Twitter about 1,000 times in hopes of a reply. The boy band, hugely popular in the late 1980s and early ’90s, begins its summer reunion tour Thursday night at Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood. McIntyre, 36, answered a few questions Monday. Answers were edited for length.

Why is the tour starting in Atlanta?

We love Atlanta. It’s all good, but logistically, it worked out because they had a few days open in the venue and we could set up the new stage and get our bearings down. A little bit of both.

All of the New Kids are in a caged ring. Who’s the last man standing?

Danny [Wood] is in pretty good shape. Donnie [Wahlberg] is a pretty substantial guy. Jordan [Knight], no joke, he’s pretty agile, so I could see him like Spider-Man up on the cage there. I’d really have to lose my mind and freak out and just freaking lose it and scare them, maybe gouge their eyes out or something.

Why did you decide to keep touring after the fall reunion tour?

[The fans] were receptive to the idea and it went back and forth, and I think it’s a great way to end it. … The fall tour, coming back the way we did, was really special. But [the summer tour] definitely reminds us of back in the day. These summer tours, this is really kind of how we earned our wings as performers and professionals. … I’m not calling it a farewell tour. I’m not going to play that game.

How often do you look at your Wikipedia page?

Never, actually. I don’t Google my name, either. There’s plenty of ways to take the temperature of your so-called celebrity and, really, all of them are pretty much toxic.

What’s something you want to do professionally?

I think theater and stage. I grew up in it and I was lucky enough to do a couple of shows in New York. That’s in my heart.